Image sensors using pinned photodiode pixels, typically implemented in CMOS architecture, are well known. Such image sensors in many applications have the advantage that both the image sensitive element and the image processing circuitry can be embodied in a single chip which can be manufactured using CMOS techniques.
However there is an increasing need for image sensors with high quality output. One significant factor in sensor output quality is noise resultant from the sensor support circuitry. Such noise can affect the output level of each pixel differently, or in some cases can affect the output levels of all the pixels in a row or column equally. It is known that the latter case is more problematic as the human eye perceives such an output glitch to be much more evident than noise that differs on a pixel-to-pixel basis.
Consequently, there is a need in the art to address the above issues.